Walgreens’ drop ship program gains transparency, cost savings and efficiency from Logicbroker implementation.
Summary
Poised for major, continuous online growth, Walgreens traded its outdated drop shipping solution for Logicbroker’s more agile platform. Walgreens migrated to the Logicbroker platform in under two months, overcoming vendor onboarding fees, cumbersome legacy software, and opaque reports.
6 Week Implementation
No Vendor Contracts
Agile Drop Shipping
Challenges to overcome
Walgreens, one of the United State’s largest pharmacy chains, offers online customers an assortment of wellness products and health information. As more consumers have begun relying on online shopping, Walgreens has expanded its assortment of products.
Walgreens launched its initial drop ship program to help provide automation for its teams, but as technology continued to evolve, it was clear its provider’s approach was no longer agile enough to meet customer demand. Ongoing struggles with vendor onboarding contracts and rising variable costs significantly delayed or prevented new vendors from launching. Walgreens also struggled with a lack of visibility into its vendors’ inventory and performance-caused errors. All this, coupled with a lack of comprehensive reporting, prevented Walgreens from scaling their drop ship program in a meaningful way.
The Walgreens executive team knew they needed to upgrade to a modern technology stack with more flexibility, better visibility, and a better solution for their vendor community. They also questioned their existing provider’s high price tag and legacy on-premise technology. Walgreens began exploring solutions that would allow them to easily add new vendors, expand their assortment, and increase revenue.
Finding the right solution
The Walgreens team decided that in order to meet their goals, they needed to upgrade to a more powerful cloud-based drop shop program as quickly as possible. As they explored more robust options, Walgreens learned about Logicbroker’s “no-code” approach to implementation. With a “go-live-now” mindset, Walgreens was able to dramatically reduce its own IT involvement by utilizing the Logicbroker team. After signing with Logicbroker, Walgreens migrated both their platform and drop ship vendors within just six weeks.
In our research, one of Logicbroker’s other clients, who we reached out to for a reference, gave us the feedback that Logicbroker was a partner, not just a service provider. I could not agree more.
Jennifer Raber
Director, Retail Digital Business Enablement
To make their vendors’ lives easier, Walgreen’s new partnership with Logicbroker allowed their vendors to either keep existing data transmission protocols or modernize them to take advantage of Logicbroker’s automation and easy-to-use portal. Vendors can now easily reference specific compliance documentation through a Walgreens-specific knowledgebase. Invoices, inventory updates, and vendor onboarding now easily flow through the system to drive revenue for all parties.
Walgreen’s vendors are also no longer bound by third-party contracts, nor do they pay fees to connect or participate in the Walgreens drop ship program, resulting in immediate technical and financial benefits.
With their new cloud-based platform in place, Walgreens has better inventory visibility and a better understanding of vendor performance. AI sourcing tools match Walgreens product SKU identifiers with the SKU identifiers vendors use for that same product, eliminating previous inefficiencies. As orders come in, this same logic automatically identifies potential inventory issues and can route orders to an alternate vendor’s stock for fulfillment.
Unparalleled Results
The transition and migration to Logicbroker received overwhelmingly positive reviews from Walgreens vendors. With no charge for setup, mapping, or monthly transactional fees, vendors were eager to migrate fast. Vendors are now more willing to take risks with Walgreens, driving revenue for both organizations.
Walgreens is also making use of the full suite of Logicbroker reporting tools to personalize their new drop shipping platform. Notifications, advanced reporting, and built-in access to Microsoft Power BI allow the Walgreens team to make more informed merchandising decisions. They can analyze top-performing vendors and SKUs and use this data to grow vendor relationships, uncovering new growth opportunities.
An Expanding Partnership
Moving forward, Walgreens will use Logicbroker to automate the order and shipment data exchange between its distribution centers and their B2B/EDI fulfillment vendors. Traditionally, this data exchange was done through fax or email. With automation in place, communication will be streamlined and efficient, further strengthening business relationships.
With a technology stack built to scale, a better financial model, and a clear plan for online growth, Walgreens can move faster than ever. They’re poised to reap the operational and financial benefits of automation and are extremely well-positioned for future success.
[Logicbroker] has a strong ‘we are one team’ mentality and are responsive and supportive. I look forward to what the future brings.
Jennifer Raber
Director, Retail Digital Business Enablement